Life is Meant to Change
by loveofallthatisawesome
Summary: Max, Fang, Lissa. The best of friends. That is, until, they get to high school where suddenly everything changes for them, or more specifically, Max. FAX/TWOSHOT/AU/AH.
1. It Begins

**Fifth Grade**

"Whoever lands the farthest wins," Fang announced. He was sitting on the floor a good distance away from where Lissa and I were swinging.

"I already know I'm going to win," I yelled, pushing my shoes into the sand to rise higher. Lissa stopped swinging. "Oh, c'mon, Lissa, you're no fun, why'd you stop?"

I felt my own swing start to lose momentum as I stopped pushing. Lissa got off her swing and walked towards where Fang was.

"I don't want to compete with Max, and anyway I'll get dirty," she said with a sneer. She sat down next to Fang.

"You're only saying that because you know you're going to lose," I shot back. Fang stood up and started walking toward the swing Lissa had just gotten off of. He sat down and started to swing himself.

"I'll do it." Fang half-smiled at me and then added in a whisper, "Lissa's no competition, anyway."

Lissa didn't seem to hear that and I smiled back at Fang. "You're on, Fangles! But don't be crying when you lose!" He shook his head and started to swing faster. I did the same, my feet pushing into the sand with as much force as my small legs could muster and then using my upper body to swing higher. I kept on going and going and then finally when I was as high as I could go I shouted, "On the count of three. One, two...THREE!" and I jumped off, letting go of the chains and propelling myself forward.

The air made the my hair fly around my face and I threw my arms out wide, as if I was flying. It felt so great to be suspended like that. There was so much freedom and I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to have wings and be able to fly, to be among the birds and the clouds. It all ended within a second and then I was nearing the ground. I put my arms in front of me protectively and then I hit the ground with a loud thump, throwing sand in all directions. I rolled to my side quickly. It didn't really hurt, but the sand was lodged into my skin and it was prickly. I dusted it off and then look to the side where Fang had landed. I frowned.

He was sitting down a few feet away, dusting off the sand from his hands and his clothes. I noticed he had landed a few feet farther than me, but he couldn't win me! When he wasn't looking I scooted back enough until I was sure I would win. He glanced back at me.

"Well, Fang, looks like you lost," I said smugly. I stood up and looked down at him. "I mean it was expected, but I just hope you don't feel so bad." I shrugged and smiled at him.

He glared at me with his black eyes for a few seconds and then stated, "You cheated."

I put a hand to my chest and gasped. I hoped it looked real. "You offend me, Fang! I didn't cheat at -" I was cut off by Lissa.

"Yeah, you did. You scooted back so that you could be farther," she said as she walked towards us. She held out a hand for Fang, but he didn't take it. I smiled a little on the inside, he still liked me more than her. But Lissa, that traitor! I thought we were all best friends! "Fangy won."

"There's no proof of this cheating. I'm leaving, my mom wants me to help her cook," I said and then turned around. I started walking away. My own best friend betrayed me for our other best friend. How dare she!

"You can't cook, though!" Fang yelled.

I turned around and glared at Fang, who was running towards me with Lissa a little behind. I crossed my arms. "Yes, I can...well...I'm learning."

Fang smirked. "You can't cook, Max, face it. You'd probably burn the whole house down if you ever tried."

Lissa started laughing and I glared at them both. "I don't like you guys."

"He's kidding, Max," Lissa said, still laughing. "We'll come with you and help your mom, too." She actually wasn't even home. I had lied.

"Didn't she make cookies today?" Fang asked. My eyes widened and I started running home. I heard Fang and Lissa running behind me as well.

"Yeah," I yelled as I caught sight of my house. "For that meeting at school tonight!" I knew she would make extras of her delicious cookies and they would taste so awesome.

I smelled the cookies as soon as I stepped through the door. "You guys are so lucky you're my best friends," I told Fang and Lissa as they walked in, their noses in the air.

"Yeah, we are," Fang said, grinning, and then we raided the kitchen.

**Summer before Freshman Year**

I couldn't do this anymore. It was too much for me. Day after day, the same tortures, the agonizingly painful droning and boredom. The harsh rules, the sound of scratching on paper, the irritating company; it's all so pathetically inevitable. School.

Why, oh why, must summer break be over? Not only that, but I had to start high school. The place where you're either highly successful or doomed to be a nobody; where people are tested to their breaking point. I didn't want to go. More than anything I just didn't want to go. But I had to.

There was one upside to all of it: I got to go with my two best friends. Lissa, with her glossy red hair and bright green eyes, will probably be popular, not only because she's naturally pretty, but because she can play volleyball like it's no one's business. She's nice, sure she gets a bitchy attitude every now and then, but I've known her since forever and I could honestly say she was like the sister that I never had (okay, so I had Ella, my half-sister, but she was only ten and I really couldn't talk to her like a real sister just yet, without getting into the topic of prepubescent boys and whatnot).

Then there's Fang. Fang with his incredibly dark brown eyes, so dark they looked black, and his midnight black hair that fell to just below his eyebrows. I didn't know how he'd fare in high school, but no matter what, I knew he wouldn't leave us. I'd known him almost as long as Lissa, he moved here when he was nine years old. During that time me and Lissa were already best friends. When we met him, we just took him in. He's tall and lanky and he doesn't really talk a lot, but when he does it's usually important. I wouldn't have him any other way.

The only problem is that I'm starting to feel weird about him. Whenever I talk to him, I get kind of nervous and I start blushing, which is totally unlike me, especially with Fang! Every time we accidentally touched, I felt a shock go through me, and when I looked at his lips, I wanted to kiss him. Sometimes the urge got to me so much that I had to leave the room just so I could take a few breaths. So what does that mean? As much as it pained me to admit it, it meant that I had a crush on one of my best friends and he didn't even know it.

I sighed and rolled over in my bed. Well, my unrequited love was of no importance at the moment. The only thing that mattered was that school was starting the next day. I groaned. Why?

Just then my door flew open and I shot up faster than a balloon can pop. Lissa stood at my door in sweats and a t-shirt. She had bags upon bags in her hands and she was looking at me with wide eyes and a huge smile.

"High school starts tomorrow!" she yelled, running across the room, and dropped the bags at her feet. "Can you believe it? I'm so happy. I want to make a big impression, you know? And I thought, 'Well, what better way than to go with a new wardrobe!'" Lissa and I had always been tomboys, dressing with basketball shorts, sweats, t-shirts, hoodies; comfortable clothes, basically. Though she was always more careful about being clean than I was.

I looked down at the bags and nodded my head towards them. "What's in there?" She rolled her eyes, smiling, and bent down to open one and started taking really colorful things out. I grimaced when I saw all the tank tops, shorts, skirts, and fancy shirts. "Oh, please tell me you did not just spend all your allowance on some stupid clothes." I picked up up one of the shorts, noticing it wasn't really more than a strip of fabric. Lissa snatched it out my hands.

"Yes, I did and I'm going to go try some of this on so you can see that it wasn't a waste." With that she took the shorts, a tank top and this other little weird thing and left the room, going to the bathroom to change. I sighed and laid down on my bed again. I didn't know why Lissa was trying to change how she looked. Well, she was always going on and on about how she wanted a boyfriend. Maybe that's why. Not many guys want to get with tomboys.

For the second time in that same hour, I shot up when I heard my door open. Instead of Lissa, there was Fang. My heart sped up and I was suddenly aware of what I was wearing; ugly basketball shorts and an over-sized jersey. My dirty blonde hair was also horribly put together in a messy bun and I probably still had the imprints of my pillow on my cheek from laying down for so long. I knew Fang had seen me like that before, but I still felt a little embarrassed. I decided to ignore the feeling since I couldn't do anything about it. I smiled and he walked over to the bed and sat down. He took one look at all the bags on the floor and gave me a questioning glance.

"Lissa," I stated. He furrowed his brow since Lissa wasn't much of a shopper. We were like that. We knew what the other was thinking without really having to say anything. I continued, "I don't know either, I think she wants to fit into the high school persona or something so she went out and bought a bunch of new clothes." I shrugged. "It seems like a waste to me."

"You guys don't need to change just to fit in at high school. You're perfect just the way you are," he said as if he were stating a fact. Even though he was referring to me _and_ Lissa, my heart couldn't help but to give a little jump when he said we were perfect.

Instead of expressing my thanks, I punched him. Hard. I know, I'm such a flirt (sarcasm). I hate myself sometimes. He winced and then grinned.

"I'm not joking. I like you how you are. You don't need to change at all."

Something about the way he said that gave me hope and I started blushing. I turned away a little, trying to hide my face, but I noticed him grinning.

Just then Lissa walked in.

My shock was very noticeable, but I don't think it was as much as Fang's. His eyes went wide and he sat up straighter. His mouth was hanging a bit open and I could tell that he was gripping the bed sheets a little too tight. Something in his reaction worried me, but I was too shocked by Lissa's appearance to really analyze him.

We didn't dress provocatively; it just wasn't us. We were the tomboys who scoffed at the idea of dresses and makeup, but when Lissa walked in with her creamy pale legs and smooth long arms all exposed, she looked like she'd been dressing in short shorts and tank tops all her life. She completely owned the outfit. The weird thing she had taken turned out to be a vest that she wore over the tank top and it completely made us notice her extremely small waist. She had let her red hair down and she just looked so pretty, model-worthy, even. I couldn't stand it. This wasn't the Lissa I knew, but at the same time, I could tell it was who she wanted to be.

She walked to the only mirror I had in my room, the vanity, and looked at herself. After a few moments of just looking at herself back and forth she turned to us and asked the dreaded question: "How do I look?"

At the same time that I said, "Weird," Fang answered, "Great," his voice slightly hoarse and cracking a bit.

Something about his response not only made my chest hurt but let me know that some things were going to change and I probably wasn't going to like it.

**Junior Year**

It was an early, Friday morning in mid-October and I was nearly dying from all the running I'd been doing. Try-outs for track didn't start until January, but my time for the mile wasn't nearly as good as I wanted it to be and I couldn't run longer than three miles at a time. I needed to work on that, so I'd been running everyday before and after school. Sure, it meant waking up earlier and staying after school later, but I really wanted to meet my goals. And besides that, running helped me relieve stress.

It was my junior year and school was only getting harder, what with trying to keep up in those honors classes I had stupidly enrolled in and starting to look into colleges. It was too much pressure. I was just glad that I had my friends to fall back on.

I was still best friends with Fang and Lissa, even though we'd made more friends. Fang had Iggy, Lissa had her weird, nearly twin Brigid, and I had Nudge. Iggy had strawberry-blonde hair and pale blue eyes and he was hilarious, sexist a lot of times, but he was cool to hang with. Brigid was incredibly annoying, but I tolerated her because of Lissa. She looked almost exactly like Lissa, they were the same height, they had the same hair, and they even acted the same sometimes. She was also constantly hitting on Fang, but he rarely ever acknowledged her. It made me proud. Nudge had mocha-colored skin and pretty brown curls and she was possibly one of the most optimistic, talkative, girly girls I'd ever met, but she made me laugh and she was a great friend. We had our own friends, but no one could take the place of our friendship.

Fang, Lissa, and I hung out every weekend. Most of the time we played sports, even though Lissa had pretty much abandoned all physical activity once she became one of the more popular girls, or we went to the movies upon Lissa's request. Lissa usually sat out when we played soccer, since she didn't like it. I loved it. Fang would always do these tricks and my favorite was when he kicked the ball between my feet and he'd put one arm around my waist as he side-stepped me. Those fleeting touches made me happy, even if they meant nothing to him.

Sadly, Fang and I had seen no progress in our non-existent relationship. Or better yet, we had made no move to actually initiate one. Fang never seemed to be interested in me. He'd had only one girlfriend during our entire high school career, for two months during freshman year, and then they broke up. He didn't really like her, in fact she was the one who had asked him out. I had laughed at that and called him a pansy and he had just glared before tackling me into the ground. I'd had guys ask me out every now and then, mostly beefy jocks, but I didn't like them.

Fang always got protective during those times. One time, sophomore year, the quarterback of the varsity football team,m Dylan, had asked me out and I didn't know what to say. It was the one time I had found someone other than Fang attractive.

"Why would you want to go out with him?" Fang had asked as we sat on the grass after a short game of soccer. Lissa had already left because she had a date. "He's too old, anyway."

I bumped him with my shoulder. "He's a senior, he's not that much older."

"It's two years," he pointed out. "He's seventeen, he's going to want to do some things that you aren't ready for."

I looked at him pointedly. "How are you so sure I wouldn't be ready if he wanted to do some of those things?"

He glared at me. "You won't."

I glared back. "It's possible I will." I wasn't saying that I was going to go far with Dylan, but it irked me that Fang was trying to control what I did.

"Max," he said, exasperated. He ran his hands down his face. "Promise me that if you do go out with him, or any guys you go out with, you won't do anything you're not ready for."

I smirked and said, "Maybe."

"Max," he said sternly.

I sighed exaggeratedly. "Okay, fine, I promise I won't. I probably won't even go out with him." I shrugged.

He smiled and then said, "Okay, and also, you won't do anything that only married people should do, until you yourself are married."

I blushed furiously and then burst out laughing. He joined in after a while. I ended up not even going out with Dylan, but that conversation with Fang always stayed in my mind. I always wondered why he made me promise that; whether it was because he thought of himself as my brother and he was just being overprotective or if it was because of something else.

I didn't go out with Dylan because I already knew who I wanted, only it was so difficult to find a way to get Fang to actually notice me in that way. I didn't know what to do.

Nudge got to me and started to dress me differently, meaning tighter jeans and 'cuter' shirts, but other than that, I really made no effort to change how I looked. Fang had once said I was perfect the way I was, so I saw no reason to change that. But when I really thought about it, I sometimes wondered what it would be like if I started to dress more like Lissa. I wanted to see if I could get the same reaction out of him as Lissa did that one time freshman year. But I didn't want that. I wasn't like that, and I didn't feel comfortable wearing those clothes.

Lissa did, and she dressed like that everyday. I liked to think that that was why she always had a boyfriend. From the first week of freshman year to now, she'd always had a boyfriend. She broke up with them pretty fast, but she always had one.

I was nearing my second to last lap when I saw a flash of black out of the corner of my eye. I stopped running and took out my earphones. I turned to see Fang walking down the steps leading to the football field.

He'd changed so much these past few years; not personality wise, but he'd started to lift weights so he was so much more muscular. Not enough to say that he was buff, but he did have muscles and every part of him was toned. I knew because that summer we'd gone swimming and I'd gotten a good look at his six-pack. Unfortunately, so did all of Lissa's preppy friends, since it was her pool party. He'd only become more good-looking, but I was glad that he was still him.

He called me over.

I started doing small lunges so that my muscles didn't cramp and made my way over to him.

I still got that feeling in my heart whenever I saw him, like it was beating too fast and it'd burst out of my chest if I didn't take a deep breath. I tried to calm my heart down when I got closer. I looked into his black eyes and noticed he looked a little nervous.

I raised an eyebrow and motioned for him to follow me to the bleachers. We sat down, unbearably close, so close his leg rubbed against mine.

"What are you doing here so early?" I asked him, taking a swig out of my water bottle. "School doesn't start for another hour and a half, or have you finally decided that track is the superior sport?" I teased. Fang only played football and soccer, he thought track was pointless.

"I knew I would find you here," was all he said. He started biting his lip. It was weird, he rarely ever showed this much emotion, but whatever it was was making him really nervous.

"Why were you looking for me?" I decided to go with an easier question.

"I...need your advice, I guess." He looked down and started fidgeting with the end of his shirt. I was so confused and worried. Why was he acting like this? And why the heck did he need _my_ advice? I was horrible at giving advice. I can't even give myself advice.

"What's wrong?"

He waited a moment before answering. "Nothing's wrong, I just need to ask you something."

_Here it is_, I thought, my heart racing. He's going to ask me out. Of course he is! I should have figured it out, that's why he came so early so that he could find me alone and that's why he's so nervous. I couldn't help but think that maybe some of my efforts had paid off. I know I didn't try to really put myself out there to get noticed, but I tried doing things like holding Fang's eyes longer than necessary, or touching him whenever I could, or even smiling at him for no reason, hoping he would understand. I also tried to be less rude to him, though that was definitely a great feat. Suddenly I was nervous, too.

He stayed silent again, so I nudged him and said, "So what's so important that you needed to ask me about?"

He took a deep breath and then blurt out, "I want to ask Lissa out."

My heart could have stopped right there and I wouldn't have noticed. I didn't know what to say, that's not what I was expecting, at all. I looked ahead to the opposite side of the football field and the other set of bleachers, normally reserved for the visiting team's fans, where the sun was beginning to rise. It was a creating an effect where the clouds turned into beautiful shades of purples, pinks, oranges, and reds. It was so beautiful. And I wanted to cry. How could something that looked so beautiful, so peaceful and majestic, and that could make the world feel so warm and opening, be here in front of me when all I wanted to do was curl up and cry because of this stupid situation I was in?

I stayed silent for a few seconds longer until I realized that Fang was waiting for a response. Without looking at him, I said, "That's not a question, and she has a boyfriend." I know. It was stupid to say that, I should have said something like, 'I like you, Fang! Ask me out!' but that would've seemed creepy and desperate.

"No, she doesn't, she dumped Marco two days ago," he said, with hope in his voice. It nearly killed me to hear it.

"I didn't know you liked Lissa," I said, trying to keep the depression that was settling into me out of my voice. He would've seemed suspicious, then.

He sighed and leaned back into the bleachers. "I have, actually, for quite a while now." Twist the knife a little deeper, why don't you? "At first it was just a crush so I didn't make it known, but a few months ago I started to really like her."

He leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees and rested his chin on his hands. He looked straight forward so that all I could see was his black mess of hair and his slouched shoulders. I ached to bring my hand up and to touch him, but I couldn't. Not now that I knew he liked our best friend and he wanted to be with her, not me.

"I love her fiery red hair, and her pretty green eyes," he sighed again, and I could tell he was lovestruck. "I think, really, it's the hair that did it. I don't know why, but I really love the red hair." I couldn't speak anymore. It was too much. I felt like if I didn't get out of there, I would burst into tears and then what would I do? Fang would get freaked out and ask what was wrong and I wouldn't be able to tell him, no matter how much I wanted to.

Why wouldn't he like Lissa? She was perfect for him. She was the adequate height, not like me who towered over all the other girls at 5'10 and she had the perfect complexion and she was beautiful enough for him. I had ugly dirty blonde hair with split ends, where she had lustrous red curls, that Fang apparently loved, and I had dull brown eyes, to her shining green ones. She was also outgoing in a different way from me. Whereas she was usually always sweet and liked by a lot of people, I was rude, causing a lot of trouble, and people tended to hate me the second they met me. We were nearly opposites, and it was no wonder he picked her and not me. I don't even know why I had even thought he would go out with me, when Lissa was around.

"So, Max, do you think I should ask her out?" he asked me, in his beautiful deep voice.

I took a deep breath and tried to muster up some good feelings for him. It was hard. "Fang, if you really like her, I don't know what you're doing out here with me." I tried smiling. "You should be at your house getting ready for school so that you could ask her the second you see her. I know she'll say yes. We've all been best friends forever, and I bet she likes you the same way. She'd be stupid not to like you."

I tried smiling again and was glad to see that Fang believed it because he smiled back. A real smile, not the half-ones he usually shows. He really, actually wanted her, and that only broke me more inside.

"I hope you're right, Max. I've known her for a long time, but she changed so much these past few years that I feel like I'm getting to know her all over again, so thanks," he said with real joy. He stood up and I followed. He hugged me, which caught me off guard since he wasn't a hugger, but I quickly hugged him back, not wanting to miss out on the opportunity.

"Yeah, alright," I pushed him off of me and grinned. "Leave now, so that you can get ready to ask her out, or I'll have to tell her myself as soon as I get home." I smirked and he rolled his eyes.

"See you later, Max," he called as he went back up the steps, that time he went back with a new energy, determined.

I yelled out, one last time, "Aww, Fangles is in love!" I heard him chuckle as he walked away.

When I saw the last traces of him leave, I finally sat down and let the tears fall uninhibited.

One thing was for sure, I'd waited too long, and now it was too late.

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or anything that comes from it. <strong>


	2. It Ends

**End of Junior Year**

I was so unbearably depressed at first.

Fang had made a big deal of asking Lissa out. During lunch, he'd grabbed her seat and flipped it around so that she was facing him. Everyone at her table looked at them and so did most of the surrounding people, as he got down on one knee and gave her a rose. He asked her out, but not before giving a little speech about why she was so perfect, and she squealed, saying yes, and hugging him around the neck. Then right there in front of everyone, they kissed.

Fang hated PDA and he hated being the center of attention, but Lissa loved it, so he did it for her benefit, I knew.

Oh, people clapped, and girls 'awwed', and even Nudge was jumping up and down in excitement.

"Isn't that just so adorable? When my future boyfriend asks me out, I so hope he does something like that, because that is just SO sweet," she had said. And yes it was a sweet way, but did I see it as sweet? No, I didn't. I saw it as heartbreaking and ostentatious. I had turned around without answering Nudge. I couldn't look at the scene anymore without wanting to murder somebody.

After that, things just went downhill. Lissa had come over to my house that day and repeated to me all about Fang asking her out in her point of view and her emotions and her reactions and a whole bunch of unnecessary things.

"I could tell he liked me as more than a friend, especially now that I," she'd smiled mischievously, "grew into my curves. Can you believe that our Fang asked me out?" And she'd sighed and flopped herself down on my bed like a lovesick teenager.

_Our_ Fang. Not anymore. I tried to be happy, I swear I did, but I just couldn't get it out of my mind that Lissa shouldn't have been the one to be with him. I had told her that I had a headache, but that I was happy for them and that she could tell me all about it some other time.

Our plans for the next weekend were canceled, the first of many, for Fang and Lissa were going to have their first official date. Oh, whoop-dee-fucking-doo. I apologize for my language. I was so incredibly happy. Right.

They had a romantic candlelit dinner where Fang cooked for Lissa and then afterward they watched 'The Notebook'. Fang didn't even like those types of movies! He liked comedy, action, and sci-fi. That was it. Sometimes I felt like Lissa didn't even know Fang at all.

I started to really hate them, as a couple, or maybe as people, I don't know, but I resented them. They canceled on me all the time, even though we were all supposedly still best friends, and I mean I didn't mind so much at first when they canceled every now and then because they wanted to go out. I understood that they were going out, even though I was jealous, and that they needed their own time alone and everything, but then it came to the point where we completely stopped talking and we never hung out anymore. They ruined our friendship and that is what made me most sad.

I saw them in the hallways, making out in front of everyone and I saw them at lunch, too, with Lissa sitting on top of Fang's lap as he'd wrap his arms around her petite waist. They became so distant to me, Lissa even more. She started to glare at me whenever she saw me. I ignored her.

One day, back in April, I was so lonely. It was spring break and Nudge had left to visit her grandparents in California, Iggy had gone with his family down to Cancun, and Ella had gone to a trip with her friend's family, and I was left alone. I didn't know what to do. I was bored and depressed; a bad combination.

I went back to the playground where I had once played with Fang to see who could jump the farthest off the swings, and sat down at one of them. I swung for a little while. That was during the time when Fang liked me way more than Lissa. Back when he thought Lissa's hair was weird and he said I was much more fun to hang out with.

Oh, how the times had changed.

I got off the swing and started venturing deep into the woods that were behind the playground. I kept on walking, who knows for how long, it could have been hours or it could have just been minutes, until I came across this gigantic tree. I looked up. It was so grand and beautiful. I think I went crazy for a while there because I had actually hugged the tree and started to cry. After a while, I sat down near the trunk and picked up a nearby rock the size of a baby's fist.

I inspected it for a while, it had sharp, ragged edges on one side, and on the other it was completely smooth. Like my life. On the side that people saw, I was (mostly) composed, but on the other side, the side no one saw it was completely messed up and broken. I looked up again, watching as the sunlight passed through branches and leaves and it made everything so pretty. It was so pretty and mesmerizing. But it'd fade. As soon as summer came, the bark and the leaves would start to get dry, and then once autumn came by, the leaves would fall, leaving the tree bare and ugly. That's what happens: things are only good for a while, because something bad will always happen.

A sharp pain brought me back to my senses. I looked down at my left arm only to see that I had created a long jagged line cutting diagonally from my wrist to the inside of my elbow with the sharp point of the rock. It felt good. To see the blood welling up around the cut, and for it to come down in little streams.

I was out of tears, I didn't want to cry anymore anyway; but I had plenty of blood in my body.

…

I couldn't do that. As much as I would have loved to release all my emotions, I couldn't do that. Cutting was not the right thing to do. It would lead me nowhere. It was there, at that moment, that I decided that my life did not revolve around Fang.

I had lost my chance with Fang, be it because I didn't make my move faster or because Fang just plain didn't like me that way, but the point was that Fang and I weren't going to get together. Especially not when he was going out with Lissa. To make it even worse, they'd been going out for eight months by then, making it both their longest records, and they still looked like they were in love.

So I had walked home, grabbed my wallet and my keys, and driven my new (to me) car to the mall. I decided that I was going to finish the year how I was, but over the summer I was going to get to know the real me while at the same time, changing to become a better me.

So now, it was the end of junior year and summer was going to start. Fang and Lissa didn't talk to me anymore. Sometimes they'd acknowledge me in the hallways with a simple nod (Fang) or a sneer (Lissa), but we didn't try to stop and make conversation. Our friendship was over; that much was obvious.

**Spring Break Senior Year**

I knew who I was. I was Maximum Ride. I was outspoken, daring, courageous, loyal, sarcastic, and most importantly, myself. I changed myself for no one. I only saw myself when I looked in the mirror. I didn't see someone trying to be someone else, I didn't see someone trying to please others, I saw an independent girl who was strong and smart.

My 'transformation' wasn't big or anything, I bought better clothes from the mall, not exactly colorful, because I didn't like that, but more stylish clothes in darker colors. Even Nudge approved. I cut my hair. It used to be really long, which means it was also really damaged, and now it reached to just below my shoulders in layers. I stopped wearing such extremely baggy clothing and started to wear 'girl' athletic clothing, which was surprisingly just as comfortable as the guys' clothes.

I didn't change my attitude. No, I realized that that was actually all me. So there was no need to make adjustments.

Even though it wasn't a big change, people did notice. More specifically, Fang. I had talked to him a few days before school started, I know, I was surprised, too, but it was over the phone.

"Hey, Max."

I stayed silent, hardly even breathing. It felt weird – hearing his voice after so long, nearly a year. It was still the same, but he seemed way more tired. Effects of the phone, probably?

"I know we haven't talked in a long time, but I miss you, Max."

I exhaled and sat down on my bed.

"You don't have to say anything, I get if you're mad at me, and I'm sorry. I got caught up with Lissa and school, and colleges, and scholarships and things, that everything else just...kind of slipped away, I guess."

I nodded absently, pretending to agree. An old habit, I suppose. But I didn't agree. You don't let important people 'slip away'. That doesn't just happen. I wanted to yell at him, say 'Fuck you!', or just do something so harsh that he would regret ever abandoning me, but I just stayed quiet.

"I want to hang out with you. Just you, without Lissa. Just you and me so that we can talk and catch up."

I felt a tremor go up through my throat and I knew that that meant I was getting emotional. I didn't want to cry anymore. I looked up at the ceiling as I willed the tears to go away.

"No," I finally answered. It surprised me. I was actually going to say maybe, or sometime in the future, but what came out of my mouth was no.

"...Please, Max. I'm sorry, for everything," he whispered.

"I don't want to talk to you. I don't want to hang out with you. And I don't care about your apologies. Just leave me alone and don't _ever_ call me again." With that I clicked the 'end call' button on my phone. I laid down on my bed, wondering, did I do the right thing?

On the first day of school, I decided to wear shorts, not short like how Lissa wears them, but normal and a tight shirt that said 'I'm a virgin, but this is an old shirt'. What can I say? I liked provoking people, especially teachers. A lot of the guys stared at me, it was annoying, but I had told myself that I was confident and that women should be allowed to wear whatever they want without automatically being seen as a sex object.

When Fang saw me in our third period class his eyes widened considerably, for him anyway. He never thought that I would abandon my old clothes, that's for sure.

I didn't even glance at him, but I saw resignation in his eyes when he wasn't looking. It kind of made me glad.

The year went on like that and I didn't talk to Fang and Lissa anymore at all. I hung out with Iggy, Nudge, and Iggy's twin siblings who were freshmen that year, Angel and Gazzy, along with Ella, who was also a freshman. We made a weird group, but I really loved them. In fact, we were all starting to become best friends and I realized that they were beginning to replace my old ones. Fang came by every now and then to talk to Iggy, but that was it. He'd try to catch my eyes sometimes and when he did I only glared at him. He would stare before looking down dejectedly and then walk away. He knew that I was serious when I had told him that I didn't want to talk to him.

Fang and Lissa were still together. Whenever I saw them together, holding hands, kissing, whatever, it still made my chest hurt. I didn't think I would get over Fang entirely, but at least I had found myself.

Sometimes, late at night when I really couldn't fall asleep, I'd take out a photo that I had taken with Fang from the summer before sophomore year. Lissa had left on vacation for a month and so it was just me and Fang. It was during that summer that I really thought that something could have happened between us. We were closer than ever and we played around a lot, what I mistakenly thought was us flirting, but apparently it wasn't. In the photo, we're sitting on my back porch and Fang has his arm around my shoulders and we're both smiling (one of the rare smiles Fang gives out from time to time). It was taken the day before Lissa came back from her vacation.

I just look at that photo sometimes and I remember how I felt at that time. I was truly happy and I thought that as long as I had Fang I would always be happy. Even though I was still mad at him and we weren't talking, just seeing that photo still brought me out of my depression and made me smile.

Fang and I had always understood each other like that, and even when we weren't friends anymore, he could still find a way to make me happy.

It was spring break again, it was in March this year, but I wasn't alone that time. Everyone but Nudge had stayed, but I didn't hang out with them during that time. I was thinking back to the year before when I had wandered into the woods and found that tree and that rock. They're very insignificant things, but to me they were what finally made me change. So I went back.

I passed through the playgrounds. No kids were there, it was too hot, I guess. I pushed one of the swings absently and watched it swing back and forth. When it stopped, I smiled a little and then I went into the woods. I looked around for a while until I reached the tree I had found. It was pretty distinguishable, since it was so huge. I couldn't help myself, I hugged it again. I don't know why, but I felt like I had to do it. Then I sat down, but something poked me and when I went to move it, I was utterly surprised to see it was that rock.

"Well, it's certainly not a coincidence," I muttered to myself.

"What isn't?" I heard from in front of me. I looked up to see, of all the people in the world, Fang. He was standing there in his black jeans and black shirt, with his black tousled hair, and looking at me with his intense black eyes. His face was emotionless though.

"Aren't you hot wearing all that black?" I asked without thinking. I immediately face palmed mentally. I wasn't supposed to talk to him.

"Well, a lot of people would agree that I am pretty hot, but," Fang said quickly when he saw me glaring at him, "I think you meant about temperature. So...no, actually. It's pretty cool."

I stared at him for a few more seconds and then I looked back at the rock.

He spoke again. "So what isn't a coincidence?"

I decided to answer. "This rock." He raised an eyebrow at me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. He remained stoic. "Fine, I'll be leaving now," I said, getting up. Then, out of nowhere, Fang sat down and pulled me down with him.

"I saw you at the playground and then I followed you in here."

I nodded. "Okay."

"Max."

"Fang."

He rolled his eyes. "I want to talk to you. About this past year and a half."

"I'm not sure I want to talk about that."

"Please, Max, just listen."

He remained quiet. "Okay, go on," I urged when he didn't continue. Seriously. This boy talks only when he wants to; it gets annoying.

"It was all a mistake," he said softly. He looked down at my hands and took my rock away from me. For a second, I was tempted to snatch it back, but that seemed childish and so I stayed put.

"Are you going to be pausing after every few words? Because if you are, maybe you should just write me a letter, I'm pretty sure that would be faster," I snapped. I leaned back against the trunk of my tree. Yes, my tree. I've officially made it mine now.

Fang chuckled and it was so weird that I nearly looked around to see if it was someone else who had made that sound. Fang rarely made any noise, even when 'laughing' he only smiled. "You're still the same." He looked back at me. "I was worried that because you changed the way you look, you might have changed your personality, too. But you didn't."

I smirked. "I can't say the same about you. Seriously, it's weird hearing you talk so much in the same day, let alone the same hour!" I said and gasped mockingly

He half-smiled, and then he got serious again. "...Do you like me, Max?" If I had been eating, I'm sure I would have died from choking, but I wasn't so all I was left with was staring at him blankly with my mouth open like a loser.

"Why would you ask me that?" I murmured.

"Because I need to know," he said, staring at me so intensely. I looked away. No way was I going to answer that question.

"Tell me first why you said it was all a mistake," I ordered. "You can't just jump from one thing to another. You have to explain some things to me, too."

He sighed and ran a hand through his beautiful midnight colored hair. I mean, just his black hair. "You're right." He waited a few seconds and then he said, "With Lissa. It was a mistake. I broke up with her two weeks ago, but she didn't make a big deal out of it since _I_ dumped _her_. You know how she is."

I nodded absently, but I wasn't really with him right now. I was in my head, thinking. He broke up with Lissa. They're not together anymore. They're no longer a couple...but I still lost my best friends.

I took a deep breath and fiddled with some twigs I found on the ground. I know, right? Who would've known I'd find some there of all places. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I realized my mistake when I spoke to you last summer. Over the phone."

"Are you sure it wasn't that other time we spoke last summer?" I asked snidely. He caught that, of course, and grimaced.

"Max, listen to me. Last summer I was with Lissa and I realized I was tired of her. I'd been tired of her for a long while, but I stayed with her because I didn't have anyone else. I stupidly stopped talking to you, who was more my best friend than Lissa ever was, because Lissa had told me that you hated me for going out with her and I believed her, because, well you never called me anymore."

He shrugged and I suddenly felt tears spring up in my eyes. God, I thought I was done with crying. That stupid episode last year was a weakness that I swore was never going to happen again and there I was again, holding back tears.

"You used to call me almost every night and then you just stopped. And whenever I called, you didn't want to talk to me.

"I was 16 and stupid when I asked Lissa out. I only cared about how pretty she was, but..." he paused and looked down. "I didn't realize that you were right there in front me and you are so much more beautiful than she could ever be."

"Fang, please stop," I whispered. I spent way too long crying over him and trying to get over our friendship and then to find out all of this! It's like going through it all over again. "I don't want to hear about this."

"Max, no, you need to hear me out. Just listen to me a little longer and then you can decide what you want," he said sternly. He grabbed my hand and placed the rock back in my palm. I stared at it for a while and then I looked back at him.

He gave me another half-smile. "I haven't cared for Lissa as a girlfriend in over a year, because I saw that I didn't want her. I wanted you. Lissa's changed a lot, she's become so prissy. But I never really liked her in the same way that I like you. You're still the same Max I met when I was 9 years old almost ten years ago. And I fell in love with that Max. With you."

He suddenly looked worried and brought a hand up to my face. When he took it away I saw that he was wiping away some tears that had fallen. I couldn't take it anymore.

"Don't cry, Max. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry," he said, then he curled my hands over the rock and when he shifted a little I looked up and yelled out before I could stop myself.

"Don't go!"

Fang looked at me from where he'd been sitting the past fifteen minutes like I was going crazy. I probably was. "I wouldn't leave you here like this, Max."

It was silent for a few moments and then he said, "I wanted to be with you sophomore year." I was brought out of my stupor with that. That month over the summer, the protectiveness when Dylan wanted to go out with me, the nightly calls...that _had_ meant he liked me? I felt stupid suddenly. I was stubborn, I was refusing to believe that maybe Fang had liked me...but at the same time, he did nothing! But he liked me.

"You're lying," I said finally. "If you liked me and you wanted to be with me, then why didn't you do anything?"

His gaze was unwavering as he spoke. "It always seemed like I was the only one who wanted to be more than friends." He paused. How could he even think that? After all I did! Well, it wasn't much, but still! "I still don't know if you even like me," he said softly.

"Do you promise that you'll never leave me again, Fang?" I asked him suddenly, trying not to seem like I was begging. Because Maximum Ride does not beg.

He seemed a little surprised by my question but he answered anyway. "I won't, I swear."

It took me a while to mull this over. I'd always trusted Fang and yes, he had hurt me, but if that past year and a half had been any proof then it was that even though I didn't need Fang, I definitely wanted him, just as much as he apparently wanted me.

"And did you really mean what you said about falling in love with me?" I asked hesitantly. Those words were so foreign to me, but there was a time when that was all I wanted from Fang, so I waited.

He smiled, a full smile. "I do. I love you, Max."

I took a deep breath and thought. After a few tense moments, I finally answered.

I tested it out in my head, before finally saying, "Then yeah, I do like you Fang. I liked you back then and I like you right now."

Fang leaned forward suddenly, and I gasped, until I was laying on my back and he was hovering over me with one hand under my head and another on my waist. He stared into my eyes and my heartbeat was racing. I'd never been this close to him, or anyone, for that matter. He leaned in more until his lips were finally pressed against mine. I was still for a moment, just enjoying his soft lips against mine until I realized that I had to kiss back so I began to move my lips against his. It was so soft and it felt so right and perfect and it was like all my nerve endings were in shock and I felt like I could do this forever so long as I could just taste his minty lips for the rest of my life. Some twigs were breaking under me and I felt the sun beating down on us, but I couldn't have asked for a a better kiss.

We finally pulled away when the kiss was getting too hot.

"I've been waiting for that for the longest time," I blurted out.

He laughed, a real laugh, and said, "Me, too."

Fang fingered one of my layered locks and said to me, "You didn't have to change, Max. I told you once: you're perfect just the way you are."

I smiled, remembering that, and kissed him once more. When we pulled away he asked, "Now tell me, what's so special about this rock?"

And that's where things got awkward.

**Summer Before College**

After Fang asked me out, a lot of things changed again. Lissa didn't come back into our lives, even though I really missed the old her; the Lissa who loved playing sports, who snorted when she laughed, and who used to think it was more important to be able to move in your clothes rather than being able to walk in stilettos. She had changed way too much. She wasn't the tomboy we had known all our lives, she became preppy and materialistic. She started being resentful towards the end of senior year and slept with a lot of guys. She was more concerned about not getting pregnant than school, sports, and her real friends. When she found out about us, she had told me that Fang didn't love me and that she was glad that she didn't have to deal with me anymore, but I knew she was lying. Even though I felt really guilty afterwards, I reprimanded her by punching her in the jaw. I was suspended for a week after that and we never talked again.

Iggy, Nudge, Angel, Gazzy, and Ella all accepted Fang like he'd been with us forever and they told us they couldn't believe we'd waited so long to finally get together. I was surprised. I thought no one knew I liked Fang.

We graduated in June and now, in August, Fang and I are in his bedroom (we just got back from carving our initials into my tree, well, now _our _tree. It seems kind of juvenile, but Fang had the idea and I really liked it), laying on the bed as we contemplate life after high school. We're both going to go to UCLA and we're enjoying our last night in our hometown.

I'm laying on my back and Fang is turned to the side with one arm draped over my stomach. He nuzzles his head between my neck and my shoulder and I feel his fine hair tickling my skin.

"Remember that rock," he asks as he peppers kisses along my throat, "from the woods?"

I look at the scar running down my forearm. "How could I not? You got mad at me when I told you about it."

Fang pauses for a second and then moves down to the hollow of my throat. He continues to suck on my skin and I sigh in contentment. I truly am very happy.

He kisses the corners of my mouth and just as I'm about to capture his lips with my own he pulls away. I frown and punch him in the chest.

He chuckles and then rolls off of the bed. He pulls me up so that I'm sitting down on the bed cross-legged and then he gets down on the floor.

"Well, I want to give you a better one."

I look at him strangely as he gets down on one knee and takes my hands into his.

I can't even think at the moment and all I can see is the anxiety in Fang's eyes. He'd been so calm all night until now.

"What are you doing?" I ask him tentatively.

Fang looks up at me and gives me a crooked smile. Finally, he takes a deep breath and starts talking.

"I've known you for a very long time, Max, and I know we've only been going out for five months, but I can't imagine myself being with anyone else. When I'm with you, I actually want to _talk_ and I just want to touch you. I want to be close to you all the time, and just _be_ with you.

"It wasn't until last month that I realized why." He smirks and pulls out a small box from underneath the bed. "It's because I really love you. You with your beautiful, deep brown eyes, and your dirty blonde hair. I love that you don't care what anyone thinks about you, that you can stand up for yourself, that you think for yourself, and that you can probably beat me up if you ever needed to. And it's because you're _you_ that I want to be with you forever."

My breath escapes me as he opens the little box and I see a ring inside. It has a small diamond, and it's so beautiful and shiny. I gasp and look back into Fang's midnight black eyes and notice that he's apprehensive.

He's waiting for me to respond, I realize.

"What?" I croak out.

He swallows and then says, kind of nervous, "I want you to be my wife, Maximum Ride."

"But we're 18," I say, kind of hysterically.

"And the sky is blue," he answers. I slap him on the shoulder lightly. He smirks. "Just because we're 18 does not mean that I don't know what love is."

When I still don't answer, he takes the ring out of the box and grabs my left hand as he starts to slip it on to my finger.

"So will you, Max," Fang says, "Marry me?"

I've known him for more than half of my life and despite high school messing us up, I know that I love him and I'll always love him. Fang, with his dark hair and eyes, his olive skin, his silence, and his perseverance, that's the man I fell in love with and now he was asking me if I would marry him.

And I don't know why I'm taking so long to answer.

I pretend to sigh in irritation, "Fine," but then a smile creeps onto my face and I'm throwing my arms around his neck and he's kissing me and holding me and then we're on the bed again.

"Remember that promise you made back in sophomore year?" he asks as I pull off his shirt. I nod and start blushing. "Well, I'm going to change that to until you're engaged." And then he presses his lips to mine again and I revel in the sensation of his wet tongue exploring my mouth. I run my hands up and down his chest, feeling the muscles underneath my palms and he sighs.

"Is that why you asked me to marry you?" I ask defiantly.

"Maybe," he murmurs against my lips, and when I slap his shoulder, he says, "I'm kidding. I'm marrying you because you're too desirable and I can't stand the idea of you being with another guy. And because I love you."

I smile back at him as he starts to slip his hands under my shirt. "I love you, too, Nicholas 'Fang' Walker," I whisper, and then that night, I fulfilled his promise as he fulfilled mine.

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or anything that comes from it. <strong>

_This the end. I hope you guys liked it._

_-Lissa probably did love Fang and that's why she was so resentful when they broke up. She knew Max liked Fang before._

_-If you guys didn't figure it out already, their promises to each other were that Fang was never going to leave (he's marrying her and the Fang we know is faithful), and well, they're consummating their love [hehe] in that last line._

_Future people, if you happen to read this later, then still review if you want because I still want to know what you think :D_

**Tell me your thoughts****, emotions, questions, reactions in a...Review?**


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